Hard to Come By

Chapter 21

When you and Severus had finished breakfast you decided to separate for the extent of your day. It's perfect actually. As you had told him, you planned on stopping by Professor McGonagall's room to kind of get a feel for how your upcoming week will be.

You're pretty nervous about assisting with another class on top of potions. Your workload from Severus can get pretty heavy, you only hope that it won't be so bad with McGonagall too. "Miss L/N," she greets you at her office door, "so nice to see you this morning. Come in, come in!"

"Thank you so much for the opportunity to help you with classes. I can't even tell you how honored I am," you express while you both walk deeper into her office.

"Oh darling, I'm just happy to be a part of your journey," she says kindly before taking a seat at her desk and gesturing to sit in front of her. It took a while for the professors to warm up to you. Severus, obviously, warmed up the fastest but he was and still is the head of Slytherin house, so you had something in common. You think even now, this is the longest you've had a conversation with McGonagall.

"So what kinds of things does Severus have you assist with," she folds her hands in front of her, leaning in paying apt attention to you as you speak. "In the beginning it was a lot of grading papers, but as the weeks have gone on, he's allowed me to lead a class or two."

Her eyebrows raise into a shocked expression, "leading the class? Severus just let you take over?" You nod happily, "oh absolutely! Quite a few times as of recently. He wasn't always so open to my direct involvement in his lesson plans." She nods in understanding, "well if the Professor Snape feels like you are ready to lead a class then you must be a wonderful assistant. I would like the opportunity to see how you would do in transfiguration class. While it's very different from potions, I'd like to get you to the point where you're comfortable leading this class as well."

"That would be amazing," your body buzzes with excitement and you're trying your best to contain it and not make a fool of yourself in from of her. "We can do Monday, Wednesday, and Friday one week then tuesdays and Thursday the next. We can rotate as such so that you spend equal time with me and Severus. I don't want to steal his assistant from him," she explains to you the schedule and it takes you a minute to understand what she wants. But the more you think about it, it becomes clear.

"Do you want me to run it by Severus, or shall you," you ask her, not realizing you called him by his first time until it's already said. She looks at you for a long moment before speaking again, "I think you should be the one to run it by him. He may...handle it better."

"Very well, then," you say standing from your chair, "I will send an owl with Professor Snape's thoughts on the schedule. Thank you for your time." You push your chair in and quickly make your way out into the hallway.

You clutch your shoulder bag and speed walk to Severus' office. You swing the door open and close it behind you quickly, making Severus stand up from his desk immediately. His face was hard but it softens when he sees you.

"Y/N," he says your name, "what's wrong?" Your heart races in your chest, "I said your name."

He furrows his brows and cocks his head to the side, "okay. To whom?"

"McGonagall! I said 'do you want me to tell Severus?' And she paused! What if she finds out," you walk into the room more and toss your bag towards your desk, "she won't want to work with me anymore."

He lets out a light laugh, "she doesn't know anything. In fact you're the only staff member who doesn't call me by my name." He walks over to you and pulls you into a hug, "it'll be alright."

You wrap your arms around him for comfort, not truly believing what he says. He told you, his own rule, that no one can find out about you two. You can be naive at times but you know what the consequence would be if your secret got out.